The Cure for What Ailes You! Fox News Mastermind to Write Tell-Nothing Autobiography

Fox CEO Roger Ailes is writing an autobiography, reportsNew York magazine’s Gabe Sherman. Yay! It’s a book that will certainly be an important contribution to the right-wing literary school known (around here at least) as Magical Republicanism. But Mr. Sherman is perhaps overly optimistic about what Mr. Ailes might reveal in his memoir:

Ailes’s decision to write an autobiography could have serious implications for both Fox News and the future of the Republican party. For one, it would be difficult for Ailes to publish an unvarnished, tell-all autobiography while still running Fox News. How would the Fox talent or Rupert Murdoch feel if Ailes put into print what he really thinks about them? Ailes’s only other published book, a self-help manual titled You Are the Message, was light on insider details, and came out in 1989, years before he launched Fox News.

It would be very surprising indeed if what Mr. Ailes plans to write is unvarnished or tell-all, especially if it’s true (as Mr. Sherman reports) that Murdoch-owned HarperCollins will publish it. It’s really too bad Judith Regan is not still in the book biz.

Update: We just got an e-mail with the following comment from a Fox News spokesperson: “There is one source with direct knowledge of Roger’s plans…and that’s Roger himself. Since Roger has never spoken to Gabe in his life, we continue to be fascinated with Gabe’s uncanny ability to read his mind.”